TACOMA — A 26-year-old soldier from Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been sentenced to four years in state prison for coercing and threatening underage girls into sending him sexually explicit photographs of themselves.
The News-Tribune reported that Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stanley Rumbaugh called David Ford a danger to the community before announcing the sentence.
Ford pleaded guilty in July to one count each of sexual exploitation of a minor and second-degree extortion.
Prosecutors say the cavalry scout contacted seven girls — six of them via Facebook — and offered money or gifts in exchange for nude photos.
Authorities began investigating Ford, who served five years in the Army and deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, after a 15-year-old girl went to the Washington State Patrol with allegations of his conduct.
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